It's time for Misbun Sidek to work for Malaysian Badminton without BAM

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THERE was thunderous applause when Misbun Sidek made a surprise entrance into the arena with Lee Chong Wei at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night.

And boosted by the unexpected presence of Misbun, who assumed his position on the coach’s seat, top seed Chong Wei went on the offensive to crush Hong Kong’s Hu Yun 21-6, 21-9 in just 23 minutes to check into the quarter-finals.

The world No. 1 will take on Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam today for a place in the semi-finals. And a meeting with China’s Lin Dan tomorrow is very much on the cards. The world and Asian Games champion is up against compatriot Chen Long in the quarter-finals.

Chong Wei hugged his coach Misbun after the explosive win over Hu Yun and later at the press conference said that he was happy that his coach had kept his promise to be by his side during the Malaysia Open.

“I was surprised when he showed up during the warm-up session but I was happy. I hope he will stay on until the end of the tournament,” he said.

When asked whether Misbun was back for good, Chong Wei said: “I am not sure of that. Let my coach settle matters with the BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia).

“I will stay focused on my mission here. I have beaten Tien Minh in most of our meetings and I hope to keep the good record against him.”

Misbun, however, did not stay on after Chong Wei won his match and left via the back exit of the stadium.

The BAM’s secretary, Ng Chin Chai, said that Misbun, who had informed the association of his decision to quit as national coach on Dec 31 via email, turned up in a response to their letter to him last week.

“We sent a letter to Misbun to reconsider his decision to quit after the exco meeting. In the same letter, we told him to put the national interests first and help Chong Wei, at least during the Malaysia Open,” he said.

“He did not get back to us but by showing up here, it shows that he has responded to our letter.”

Chin Chai added that the BAM council would look into Misbun’s resignation on Sunday.

This positive turn of events may indicate that it will not be too long before Misbun gets back into the national fold as a coach.

Please release me, let me go
For I don't love you anymore
To waste our lives would be a sin
Release me and let me love again

I have found a new love, dear
And I will always want her near
Her lips are warm while yours are cold
Release me, my darling, let me go

(Please release me, let me go)
For I don't love you anymore
(To waste my life would be a sin)
So release me and let me love again

Please release me, can't you see
You'd be a fool to cling to me
To live a lie would bring us pain
So release me and let me love again
(Let me love, let me go)

.

However MS's exit is not supposed to be as passionate as the above.

BAM cannot be assumed as "darling" to MS. In fact MS "demanded" to part company instead of a request to do so. For not to do so will be wasting his time since his suggestions to CTC has not met with due consideration.

Perhaps LCW is and MS certainly loves to "cling" on to him and vice versa and not allow him to go for it will bring great pain if forced upon by BAM. MS has not found a new love yet and his first baddy love is LCW, followed by son Ramdan.

Misbun, do it your way...

Originally Posted by Loh

However MS's exit is not supposed to be as passionate as the above.

BAM cannot be assumed as "darling" to MS. In fact MS "demanded" to part company instead of a request to do so. For not to do so will be wasting his time since his suggestions to CTC has not met with due consideration.

Perhaps LCW is and MS certainly loves to "cling" on to him and vice versa and not allow him to go for it will bring great pain if forced upon by BAM. MS has not found a new love yet and his first baddy love is LCW, followed by son Ramdan.

.
Hahaha... Loh, you sure know the deeper meaning of the song.

Coming back to our topic in this thread, I wish to add in mafan's post;

Originally Posted by mafan

I am writing to express my support for Misbun Sidek and to encourage him to stand firm in his negotiations with BAM. I read an article on The Star Online sports section about China’s tennis star Li Na who is in the Australian Open finals. That article contained certain sentences which I thought somewhat summed up my feelings about the situation between MS and BAM.

I want to encourage MS to be the maverick that he can be so I will quote the pertinent portions of the article here:

“Unwilling to be shackled by the Chinese sports system, leading to clashes with officialdom and a reputation for being difficult, she’s managed to do it her way and stands on the brink of a historic Grand Slam win”.

I have read that quite a number of committee members at BAM have said that MS was being difficult. I say, good for you, MS, for having the courage to speak your mind even if it rocks the boat. I have never been much of a fan of committees as I think it is often misused as a way for individuals to shirk responsibility for their actions and decisions. These individuals hide behind committees. They declare, “the committee says this, the committee says that, the committee decided on this, the committee decided on that, etc.” to give the committee more legitimacy than it deserves.

I have been following Malaysian and world badminton for several years mainly by reading the Star Online and New Straits Times Online almost on a daily basis. I have seen the juniors emerge champions at the world junior championships and making a splash in international junior tournaments, only to then fade into oblivion after their junior years. BAM has consistently failed to groom the juniors into world-class senior players and must take the major portion of the blame.

The sorry state of Malaysian badminton other than for LCW and to some extent KKK/TBH (and I am hoping for WMC’s revival) speaks volumes about BAM and its system. It is a failure. And we don’t need a committee to tell us that. No one dares to step up and take responsibility and more importantly, to take risks and do things differently than what the committees say should be done. Until of course, MS who resigned last December purportedly because he could not get his choice of whom to train, sparring partners for LCW and permission to coach his son. What all this means is just that MS does not like how things are run and done at BAM.

My opinion is that if you hire a world-class coach, you have to give the coach the resources he asks for to make champions of the ones he coaches. You have to give him free rein to coach by his method. If you are going to stifle him and second-guess him with committee decisions, then why hire such world-class coach in the first place? As long as the coach is producing good results, leave him be. Clearly MS is producing good results as LCW is number one in the world and I am sure MS wants to take LCW higher... by consistently beating Lin Dan, perhaps. But if you saddle a coach with methods and duties which are out of sync with the coach’s method and system, you disrupt the efficacy of the coach.

BAM, you are a failure so why not let MS do things his way with LCW and whomever else he chooses to train, including his son. To those committee members who urged MS to do what is best for the country, who are you to say that what MS wants to do is not in the country’s best interest? What is there to support the committee’s position that what the committee has decided on is in the country’s best interest? Perhaps the committee should be flexible enough to allow maverick MS to have his way for the country’s best interest. After all, isn’t he the coach of the world’s number one ranked men’s singles badminton player? And isn’t LCW, barring injuries, as of today, Malaysia’s best bet for an Olympic gold medal? Since LD is currently LCW’s main nemesis, you are looking at a 50% chance of a gold medal, i.e. either LD or LCW would most likely win the next Olympic gold medal based on today’s conditions. When I say 50%, I am disregarding the favorable head-to-head record LD hold against LCW. That’s a different statistic which I will not get into. I know nothing is for sure, but that is how things stack up now. You just have to continue to build on this, not demolish things.

The committee says it has given the president of BAM the mandate to deal with MS but insist that the training decisions made by the committee cannot and should not be changed for MS. What a “kiasu” attitude. (For non-Malaysians, “kiasu” refers to being afraid of losing face) The training decisions are the crux of the matter! How can you give the mandate to the president and yet say the training decisions are not negotiable??? What is so sacred about your training decisions? Do not maintain your system just for the sake of maintaining your system. The world has seen that your system does not work.

It befuddles me that BAM would hire a coach and then place restrictions on said coach on how to do things, insisting the coach follow the method and system of a committee comprising of persons who appear to be lacking in credentials to be telling world-class coaches what to do and how to do it. I had a good laugh several weeks ago when reading about one committee member who, if I remember correctly, boasted that he participated in and won(?) a second-tier local state badminton tournament in his playing years and therefore, he knew what he was doing in the committee. My god, if I were in the committee and that was the height of my badminton accomplishments, I would hide that fact, definitely not brag about it. I rest my case on the questionable and lack of credentials of the committee members. Yes, there are exceptions, but in my opinion, the exceptions do not legitimize the committee and the decisions the committee made.

I have a feeling that other world-class coaches at BAM such as Rexy Mainaky and Tan Kim Her also feel “crowded” by BAM and its committees but have refrained from speaking out in support of MS because of their circumstances. RM’s continued tenure at BAM was in doubt last year and TKH is a new addition to BAM’s coaching lineup. KKK/TBH have not had a good start this year and judging from their lack-lustre performance at the semi-finals of the Korea open, eyebrows will be raised. I understand if these coaches do not want to rock the sampan.

In sports, as in many things in life and business, I believe that a maverick approach is what separates the good from the exceptional. If MS feels he can create exceptional, then let him have his way. What doe Malaysian badminton have to lose anyway? It is already under-achieving. Other countries have caught up or surpassed Malaysia. Look at South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Denmark and India. After LCW, it looks as if Malaysian badminton will slip further into the abyss. Among other things, MS wants to coach his son Ramdan. Perhaps he feels he can mold Ramdan into a world-class player rather than let Ramdan languish in BAM’s committee-led coaching system. I have read that MS also wants other players under his charge. Why can’t BAM trust his eye for badminton talent? MS clearly has his eye on the future and is looking beyond LCW. He is not in it only for the moment with his golden boy of badminton. MS is the one who really has the country’s best interest at heart. Syabas!

The committee and BAM say it is unfair to the other players if MS gets his choice of players, etc. It is about time all the players at BAM learn that life is not always fair. In fact, it is seldom fair. Grow up and deal with it. If one cannot handle this, how can one be strong enough to take the many challenges of training and playing world-class badminton? And more importantly, what have these other players achieved? Perhaps when they have achieved significant milestones in their badminton careers, they can also make their own requests and rock the sampan. Could it be perhaps this is exactly what BAM is afraid of? That others will start making demands if it succumbs to MS’ demands?

MS, if BAM stands its ground and refuses to work with you on a resolution satisfactory to you and your plans for Malaysian badminton, then unshackle yourself from BAM and go forth to accomplish great things for Malaysian badminton your way! Please do not quit badminton altogether as you indicated you might do. Do not let the folks at BAM paint you as being selfish and not doing what is best for the country. I think they are the ones who do not have the country’s best interests at heart by failing to take risks, being inflexible and above all, for being “kiasu”.

More from the article on Li Na:

“She defied Chinese convention... and employed her husband, Jiang Shan, as coach rather than using those provided by the China Tennis Association”. I think this is kind of like MS wanting to coach his son. He believes he can do more for Ramdan, just as Li Na believed her husband could do more for her. I think that if MS wants to coach his son and if Ramdan wants that too then let them have a go at it.

“But now the trailblazing Li Na is being mentioned in the same breath as China’s basketball star Yao Ming, and has become a flagbearer for the growing sport of tennis in her giant homeland”.
Good for her. Although Li Na lost to Kim Clijsters in the final, she has accomplished great things in tennis and will accomplish even greater things in the future, and she’s doing it her way!

MS and LCW, good luck to you both. If you both leave BAM but fail to achieve your goals, I will still be proud of you and glad that you dared to do it your way. The timid don’t accomplish great things. Heck, you have both achieved a lot together already and I can see that you both have the fire in you to accomplish even more.

Dare to be different, be daring, be a maverick and strive to be even more than exceptional. Do not allow yourselves to be saddled down by committees, especially those that comprise of persons who are not renowned in your field, and who probably got into the committees because of political connections.

Was Lee Chong Wei produced by the BAM committee or by BAM coach, Misbun Sidek?
.

I would say an athlete needs whatever support the country has to offer.

1. The country must first be interested in sports (badminton) and channel whatever resources it could muster to encourage it. Gaining an Olympic gold is an attractive goal for most governments.

2. A proper and effective system should be set up to encourage mass participation e.g. in schools, clubs, public, etc.

3. This would include unfortunately, a central body like the National Sports Council and the various games bodies like BAM to kick start and maintain interest. Unfortunately because one has to deal with the administration and red tapes, committees and competing personalities, maybe with different objectives.

4. Without recognition and support by the respective organizations, the game cannot grow and produce talented athletes to represent the country and bring honour and glory.

5. When the respective sports have developed to a size that can self support themselves (big fan base, TV coverage, commercial sponsorships, etc) like basketball, golf, tennis, etc in the West, then it is perhaps time for individual athletes to go independent. Professionals play for prize money and sponsorships in order to be able to produce their best efforts.

6. For LCW to go independent is not a problem as he is WR1 and sponsorships are readily available. He is in the money for most SS tourneys, especially if prize moneys are increased. Therefore he can employ his own coach, pay for related training and competition expenses. But he is the exception rather than the rule. Most of his teammates still require government and commercial support to survive.

Of course misbun is the last one that brought lcw up to where he is today.

But we shouldn't forget the others as what George mentioned,

Lcw's father and childhood coach teh peng huat.

Not forgetting morten frost and li mao ...

Bam committee I suppose also has some contribution

Paper work, planning, meetings with lots of discussions,

Brain storming, chit chat, coffee breaks .....

Had LM not been "forced" to leave prematurely, he would certainly be credited with the achievements that LCW has attained thus far. Who knows if he had remained LCW might be able to beat LD more consistently...

Now we will see how LM can nurture Simon Santoso to greater heights ...maybe by beating LD in SS tourneys and then ...London Olympics.

Had LM not been "forced" to leave prematurely, he would certainly be credited with the achievements that LCW has attained thus far. Who knows if he had remained LCW might be able to beat LD more consistently...

Now we will see how LM can nurture Simon Santoso to greater heights ...maybe by beating LD in SS tourneys and then ...London Olympics.

Loh, not to discredit li mao but that possibility is quite hard to rule out here